EPA veils hazardous substanceshttp://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1229875999The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency routinely allows companies to keep new information about their chemicals secret, including compounds that have been shown to cause cancer and respiratory problems, the Journal Sentinel has found.
The newspaper examined more than 2,000 filings in the EPA's registry of dangerous chemicals for the past three years. In more than half the cases, the EPA agreed to keep the chemical name a secret. In hundreds of other cases, it allowed the company filing the report to keep its name and address confidential.
This is despite a federal law calling for public notice of any new information through the EPA's program monitoring chemicals that pose substantial risk. The whole idea of the program is to warn the public of newfound dangers.
The EPA's rules are supposed to allow confidentiality only "under very limited circumstances."

Your Quips:Raoul says: "I thought I'd see all the ineptness possible at the EPA but this is stunning."Heartless Phil says: "It ain't ineptness, dude."DocJim says: "BAU: Business as Usual"Haley says: "The only bright spot here is just when you think newspapers are no longer relevant, along comes a story like this."Dana says: "I'm from Milwaukee and this paper is the best when it comes to environmental coverage."

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'Doc Michael says:

So remind me ... why isn't this a crime? Why aren't these peope in jail? Why don't people rise up?

Get a load of this. Later in the story, you this paragraph: "One report, posted by an unnamed company about an unnamed chemical, shows that if the substance is inhaled, it produces "foamy macrophages" or diseased cells, in the lungs of rats. The report also indicates the chemical may cause pulmonary fibrosis - a deadly and irreversible disease in people. There is no way to know if this is a chemical coming out of a smokestack in some town or a concern for workers at a factory. The write-up does not say where the chemical is produced or used.
Nor is there any indication in the description of what this chemical is or how it works."